Video could win money for UB breast cancer project

LOCKPORT – Staff members at Briody Health Care Facility in Lockport are hoping that their dance video wins money for a University at Buffalo professor who is working on an online self-help guide to be used by women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Friday is the deadline for online voting in the Pink Glove Dance contest, entered by more than 275 organizations from coast to coast.

Ann Briody Petock, administrator of the Lockport nursing home, said if her team wins, the cash prize will be donated to Dr. Robin Lally, assistant professor in the UB School of Nursing, for her Internet breast cancer project.

“I’m focusing on women’s psychological needs right after they’re diagnosed with breast cancer,” Lally said. “It’s more of a self-help book that is offered through the Internet.”

She said she wants to address “all the fears and anxieties women experience right after diagnosis.” Petock said first prize is $10,000, second prize is $5,000 and third prize is $2,000.

So far, however, the Briody video is lagging, with 1,252 votes as of Friday night. Petock said the leader has about 10,000 votes.

“Many of the other competitors are big medical centers,” Petock said.

Votes are cast at pinkglovedance.com. There is no limit on on the number of votes each person may cast, but voting does require a Facebook account.

Petock said Lockport Community Television provided equipment and taught the Briody workers how to edit the videotape.

Briody’s video, is set to the song “Down” by Jay Sean, one of six authorized songs for the contest. It runs three minutes, 19 seconds, and includes UB nursing students as well as Lockport residents, all wearing pink gloves.

Lally said if the Briody video wins, she would develop a new chapter aimed at helping friends and family members of breast cancer patients.

The American Cancer Society gave her a five-year, $700,000 “mentored research scholar” grant, which is in its second year. Lally is working on research now with focus groups, and next spring, she intends to recruit newly diagnosed women to take psychological assessment tests after using the draft version of her site.

“It’s going to take us another two years to actually study it. We’re going to enroll 80 women over a period of time and study each of them over a three-month period to see how they do with it,” Lally said.

Petock said her facility’s director of nursing, Nancy Babis, suggested back in April that Briody enter this year’s contest. It was the only entry from Western New York.

A team of staffers decided that the nursing home’s residents should be involved, as well as community dignitaries and organizations.

According to the contest rules, everyone in the video has to be wearing Medline’s pink gloves.

Thus, the video includes Lockport Mayor Michael W. Tucker, spinning in a chair while wearing pink gloves and a pink helmet. Also seen are members of the Lockport police and fire departments, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Division, and a local group of Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders, among many others.

The prize money comes from the contest sponsor, Medline Industries, a manufacturer of a wide range of medical products, including uniforms and gloves.

“The premise behind it is to raise awareness of breast cancer, since this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” Petock said.

Medline started the pink glove promotion three years ago. The company also has donated more than $750,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation through sales of its line of Pink Ribbon medical supplies.